APOD: 2022 November 3 - M33: The Triangulum Galaxy

Good morning, Rallypoint, and welcome to the November 3rd edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD): "M33: The Triangulum Galaxy." M33 lies approximately 3,000,000 light years from Earth in the constellation (appropriately name) Triangulum. You can find this constellation nestled between its larger neighbors: Perseus, Andromeda, Pisces, and Aries.

Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna noted a 'cloud-like nebulosity or obscuration' in a work published 1654. The M33 galaxy was independently discovered by Charles Messier on the night of August 25–26, 1764. The identification of several variable stars in the Triangulum Galaxy have been used as 'celestial yardsticks' to help astronomers estimate the overall size of the Universe.